It’s a surprising Ferrari that took to the track in qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix. At the end of Friday’s free practice, the drivers themselves had not hidden their doubts regarding the possibility of actually aiming for pole, especially due to the balance problems encountered throughout the day.
However, in qualifying the SF-23 transformed, chasing an unexpected front row, but which became more and more within reach as the minutes passed. As in Austin, for the second time in a row it was Charles Leclerc who got his hands on pole position, with his teammate Carlos Sainz ready to complete the job, giving the Red team a double in qualifying which thrilled the wall and the fans .
The Spaniard actually didn’t go far from undermining the Monegasque, missing pole by just 67 thousandths. A few hundredths that will also put Sainz on the dirtiest side of the grid, but what the Ferrarista wanted to underline is almost disbelief for today’s result, because it comes on a weekend where he had struggled in terms of balance, unable to find the right in using softer rubber. An issue that has actually put many riders in crisis given the sensitivity of the soft on this circuit, which tends to overheat with a consequent loss of grip which, in the slower corners, is felt markedly with the risk of losing a lot of time.
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
However, Ferrari put together the winning performance when it really mattered, in Q3. The strangeness of this qualifying was perhaps well highlighted by the fact that neither of the two Ferrari drivers was able to improve their time in the second attempt, even if in the end the time recorded at the start of the heat proved to be sufficient.
“It was very strange. Honestly, all weekend I struggled to put together a good lap, and the first one I put together was Q3, and suddenly I was in first position. Then Charles preceded me by half a tenth, a tenth. But I struggle to understand how you can find half a second and then go half a second slower on the next lap. It’s very difficult with the tires and the feeling with the car is very strange on this circuit, but we managed to put in a good lap when it counted. And this puts us in a good position for tomorrow,” Sainz said in interviews, also underlining a certain surprise at the weekend’s progress.
![Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari](https://cdn-9.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6zQ1npJY/s1000/carlos-sainz-scuderia-ferrari-1.jpg)
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari
As on other occasions, the Red car seems more convincing on the flying lap than on the long distance, but having conquered the front row can change the scenarios. Although it has been seen in past years that starting from the front cannot always represent an advantage, having placed both cars at the top of the standings can guarantee some strategic opportunities for the Prancing Horse engineers.
“It’s clear that we are not as strong with a large fuel load than we are with an empty tank. I think our car benefits from new tires. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow to keep the tires alive and keep Red Bull behind, because having two cars in front is a nice advantage. So yes, we will do our best.”
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